You are a student of State Polytechnic of Bali. You have been studying at State Polytechnic of Bali for six months or one one semester. Please tell what you feel to be a student of State Polytechnic of Bali.

Kata “harus” lazimnya diungkapkan dengan kata must atau have to dalam bahasa Inggris. Saya harus belajar: I must study atau I have to study. Dalam bentuk tanya: Must I study? Do you have to study? I must not study. I do not have to study (bentuk negatif).

Whether we realize or not, all human being around the world have already been created by God without limit. God creates human in an unlimited way of creation. Every human being is equipped by their ability to learn a new language. What method and what technique do human being apply in order to ease them in learning their new language? As we know that all children around the world, with their own social and political background, are able to acquire their language when they are under five years old. I want to use term ‘under five years old’, because I find the Indonesian term for ‘under five years old’ is ‘balita’, bawah lima tahun.

When a child (under five) starts learning a language, he/she just maximizes his/her ability to pay attention to his/her surrounding. In this case, a child maximizes his/her ability to learn a new language. They just ‘listen’ and ‘listen’ and then try to imitate every sound they listen to. It means that they try to ‘speak’ and ‘speak’. Listening has become the first activity for a child in acquiring or learning a language. They listen carefully every word around him/her. After listening, they practise speaking. What they do during the first five years is listening and speaking.

Why are children able to learn a new language when they are under five years old? God creates them by giving them a kind of tool called LAD, language acquisition device. LAD is a kind of device or a tool used by every human being to learn or to acquire a language. That is a child is able to acquire a new language, although he/she is not equipped by another tool. A child cannot use a pencil or a pen and a note book to aid him/her in taking a note.

When we are going to study English for the first time, from the beginning, what should we do? Principally when someone wants to study any languages, whether it is English, Indonesian, Japanese etc. the most important step to do is listening. Most of us are familiar with four steps in language learning. If you never hear someone else, whether they are native speakers or non-native ones, speaks the language your studying, it will be uneasy for you to measure the mastery of the language you are learning. Here I would like to underline that the most important thing to do in studying any languages is ‘listening’. The question is why listening. When you were under five years old, you practised listening activity, in learning your first language. Here I would like to differ between first language and mother tongue. If your parents speak Balinese (the language of Bali) and they speak Balinese to you and you are able to speak it, it means your mother tongue is Balinese. On the other hand, we can also say that your first language as well as your mother tongue is Balinese. If your parents speak Balinese in their daily life, but speak Indonesian to you every day (and you cannot speak Balinese, you only speak Indonesian), it means that your first language is Indonesian (Indonesian language), and we cannot say that your mother tongue is Indonesian. In my opinion, you do not have any mother tongue. You only have first language.

When you were under five years old, the way you learn your first language was through listening. At that time, you just maximize your ability to listen, to pay attention to others when they were speaking. You listened to your mom, your dad, your uncle, your aunt, your elder brother, your elder sister, your neighbours, and others. You imitated every word they uttered. Here, you practised speaking the language you were going to master. You tried to speak or uttered a certain word around you. Although, first, you speak or pronounce wrongly, but you keep trying again and again. When under five years old, or under three years old, you had been unable to read yet either write. Your ability to communicate is through listening and speaking. You listened first and then you speak by uttering one or two words. When you said ‘cucu’, it meant that you needed some milk you are thirsty. When you said ‘mimik’, it meant that you were thirsty and you want some drink.

You grew up as a good child when you were under five. Your curiosity to learn was undeniable. You became a faster learner. You learned your first language or your new language well. Every one loved you, because you were nice enough before them. They loved the way you speak. They loved the way you uttered a new word. Because you had not been able to write yet, you never tried to memorize a new word by writing it. Your ability to take a note was not dug up. You just memorized every words you heard and you used them every day. You directly practised your new words every time you had an opportunity to do so. The way you learned your first language is through listening and practising, in this case, speaking.

A friend of mine told me that his wife did not know English. Although she had studied English more than twelve years, but she never practised it. She was un able to speak English. A lucky opportunity was on her. Her husband went to America to study there. He and his wife lived for five years. Every day, she heard every body spoke English. She had not had an opportunity to listen to Indonesian or Balinese word. English was the main menu she had every day, during five years. What a surprise, she finally was able to speak English. She was finally able to speak English, because she listened English every day. Listening is one of the most aspects in learning a new language.

When I was at senior high school in Purworejo, Central Java, one of my neighbours (read my uncle’s neighbours) had a nice experience. He was a contracted teacher in Malaysia in 1969 to 1979. He and his family lived there and he taught there for ten years. His two sons became good at English. Why? Because they only heard and listened to English during their living in Malaysia. When they went back to Indonesia, they were seen their ability to use their English. Of course, they became ‘stars of English’ in their Indonesian classroom.

What is the conclusion? If you study a certain language (it can be English or other language), you will have to listen to the new word of the language you are studying. Listen to your teacher when speaking. Listen to your classmates when uttering a certain word, a certain sentences etc and try to imitate them. Listen and practise speaking the language you are studying. If not, it means that you are a passive learner not an active one. LISTENING and SPEAKING have became two in one activity. Try and try to practise listening and speaking every day.

Here, I would like to share what we have to do to keep our English. As we know, especially my generation – the generation born between 1960 to 1980 – had to study English when we were in Junior High School. Today, we see that the generation after 1990 are introduced to English when they are at Elementary school. Even some children are familiar with English at kindergarten. Kindergarten |ˈkindərˌgärtn, -ˌgärdn| is a school or class that prepares children for first grade. A child in kindergarten is typically 5 or 6 years old. It means they are lucky enough to know English when they are young. In this opportunity, I would like to share, I would like to jot down what I believe useful to share. Of course, I must up date what I am going to say here. I am going to start from the very basic one to do in studying English. It is designed for Indonesian students learning English from the basic and fundamental thing to know and to learn. I will say that core basic English is worth studying first before we talk about the other thing to do and to know or to know and to do. The following topic is important to know and to do when you are going to study English. I. English Alphabet and International Alphabet Why do we have to study English Alphabet and International Alphabet? If you know the English Alphabet, it will be easier for you to spell a certain word. We have to make a certain word clear for our partner in daily communication. You have to spell your name, because sometimes other people misspelled your name. I will give you an example concerning misspelled name of me. My full name is Majid Wajdi. In fact, based on my experience so far that my last name ‘Wajdi’ is sometimes misspelled into ‘Wadji’, especially in written form. Several years ago, my last name was written wrongly in my identity cart. My last name was wrongly spelled in my ‘NIDN’, Nomor Induk Dosen Nasional (National Registered of Lecturer Identity). Here is the English Alphabet. A [ei], B [bi:], C [si:], D [di:], E [i:], F [ef], G [dji:], H [eitj], I [ai], J [djei], K [kei], L [el], M [em], N [en], O [o], P [pi:], Q [kju], R [a:], S [es], T [ti], U [yu], V [vi:], W [double ju], X [eks], Z [zi] II. International Alphabet Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike or Mama, Nancy, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Zulu or Zebra.

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Majid Wajdi is an English teacher of State Polytechnic of Bali. He has been teaching at his institution since November 1990 - present. He finished his undergraduate (S1) in 1989 at English Department, Faculty of Arts Udayana University. He completed his master degree (M.Pd) in language teaching at University of Education (Ganesha), Singaraja, Bali. He finished his Ph.D program at Linguistics Program, Post Graduate Program Udayana University. He is interested in sociolinguistics, sociopragmatics, discourse analysis, ethnography of speaking, language and power.